Muggsy Spaniards

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Muggsy Spanier performing at St. Nick's Tavern, New York City, circa June 1946.
Photograph by William P. Gottlieb .

Francis Joseph "Muggsy" Spaniard (born November 9, 1901 in Chicago , Illinois , † February 12, 1967 in Sausalito , California ) was an American trumpeter ( cornet ) of old-time jazz .

Live and act

His nickname Muggsy (to mug = to rob), he got possibly due to the obviously copied idiosyncrasies of Louis Armstrong and Joe "King" Oliver , according to other information from his admiration for the baseball player Muggsy McGraw. He had his first real job as a musician in 1921 in Elmer Schoebel's band . In 1927 he played with the Chicago Rhythm Kings with Frank Teschemacher , Mezz Mezzrow , Gene Krupa and Eddie Condon . In 1929 he joined Ted Lewis and his band, in which Jimmy Dorsey and Benny Goodman also played, and acted in two films: Is Everybody Happy (1929) and Here Comes the Band (1935). From 1936 he played with the Ben Pollacks Group and in the studio band Rhythm Wreckers , which had a hit on the Billboard charts in September 1937 with “September in the Rain” . Due to his serious alcohol problems, which almost killed him at the time, his engagement with Pollack ended in 1938.

He made his comeback in 1939 when he founded the Muggsy Spanier's Ragtime Band (in which George Brunies played, among others ). In 1940 he finally made some appearances in New York with Max Kaminsky , Miff Mole , Brad Gowans , George Brunies, Rod Cless and others, which also led to the famous recording of the Jam Session at Commodore . Around the same time (1939–1940) the recordings with Sidney Bechet , regarded by many jazz fans as "classic", were made , with the two lead players only being accompanied by guitar and bass. From 1941 to 1943 Muggsy played with his own Dixieland Big Band , with which he was under contract with the Decca record label . The trombonist Vernon Brown was one of his musicians . In February 1943 he had his only hit in the Billboard Top 30 with his short-lived big band with Count Basie's “ One O'Clock Jump ”, which was edited by Harry James in 1939 for “Two O'Clock Jump” .

After that (1944 to 1948) he played mostly in New York in small "heat-up groups". Finally he went on an extensive US tour with his own sextet (including Darnell Howard , Floyd Bean , Ralph Hutchinson , Truck Parham ) from 1949 to 1957.

Around 1957 he settled in San Francisco and played in various combos with the pianist Earl Hines until his death . In 1960 he was in Europe at the Essen Jazz Days and in Frankfurt. In 1964 he performed at the Newport Jazz Festival , but then had to give up for health reasons.

literature

  • Leonard Feather , Ira Gitler : The Biographical Encyclopedia of Jazz. Oxford University Press, New York 1999, ISBN 0-19-532000-X .
  • Gerhard Klußmeier: Jazz in the Charts. Another view on jazz history. Liner notes (72/100) and accompanying book of the 100 CD edition. Membrane International GmbH. ISBN 978-3-86735-062-4
  • Bert Whyatt, Muggsy Spanier: The Lonesome Road (Jazzology Press, 1996)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ In most jazz lexicons and in Allmusic, the year of birth is 1906.
  2. ↑ Muggsy Spanier (cornet), George Brunies (trombone), Bob Casey (cornet), Bernie Billings , Ray McKinstry and Nick Caiazza (tenor saxophone), Rod Cless (clarinet), Pat Pattison (bass), Joe Bushkin and George Zack (piano ), Don Carter / Al Sidell / Marty Greenberg (drums), Redhotjazz
personal data
SURNAME Spaniard, Muggsy
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Spaniard, Francis Joseph (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American jazz musician
DATE OF BIRTH November 9, 1901
PLACE OF BIRTH Chicago , Illinois
DATE OF DEATH February 12, 1967
Place of death Sausalito , California